CLUPEA. 161 



Though strongly resembling that fish in outward 

 appearance, it grows very much larger, being 

 generally more than a foot in length, but flat 

 and broad. On the northwest coast of America 

 they are inconceivably numerous. 



The average weight is from five to eight pounds, 

 in the true fishing season. From the last of April 

 to the early part of July, they are ascending the 

 rivers for the purpose of depositing their spawn. 

 Among epicures the roes are considered a deli- 

 cacy, far superior to the fish itself. The price 

 they sometimes bear in the market, before they 

 begin to run, is truly enormous. 



This fish, as well as many others of the family 

 to which it belongs, is organized for breathing 

 either fresh or salt water, though it seems it 

 cannot propagate if confined exclusively to either. 

 In most of the rivers visited by the herring, the 

 shad is successfully taken, in large nets, supported 

 on the surface by a series of buoys. 



The shad fishery of the Connecticut river, has 

 been a source of great wealth and prosperity to 

 the proprietors on its banks, from Saybrook far 

 into the interior* of Massachusetts. Many years 

 since two hundred and ninetysix seines were 

 counted, between Saybrook and Hartford; it is 

 probable there were a number farther up. 



One man remarked that he once caught thir- 

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